


All That For A Kiss

by pyromanicofthesea



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: A whole lot of kisses, M/M, mild grief and mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29324928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyromanicofthesea/pseuds/pyromanicofthesea
Summary: Atem had been long gone now for three days.He held it together for three days.Tears hit the silken pillowcase after three days.
Relationships: Atem/Kaiba Seto
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19
Collections: Dark Valentines of Dimensions 2021





	All That For A Kiss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SwordsAndSongs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwordsAndSongs/gifts).



> SwordsAndSongs,  
> Thank you very much for such wonderful prompts! I couldn't say no to some emotional hurt-comfort when I saw your prompts. Hopefully this is as fun to read as it was for me to write!  
> 

Atem had been long gone now for three days. In the absence of the man there was only greyscale stone, slick with rain from the relentless clouds above the city. Clouds that followed him from the top of KaibaCorp tower to his mansion home. To him, Atem was the closest thing to Ra above, more than even the fiery sun in the daytime sky. He lived not in perpetual night, for even the light of the moon was a reflection of the gentle caress of Ra. He lived only in monochrome grey.

He held it together for three days. Three days of paperwork and executive meetings and representative bargaining. Three days of coffee, one in the morning, two in the afternoon, another in the evening, and a fifth in place of dinner. The caffeine granted him silence within the confines of his mind. Days blurred together and he preferred it like that, lest he slow down and the weight of what transpired caught up with him. That weight threatened to consume him the moment its clammy paws took hold of his skin. It was far easier to run, force his attention elsewhere and prevent his mind from dwelling on anything not immediately in front of him.

Tears hit the silken pillowcase after three days.

He was no stranger to loss. To mourning. To picking up and moving on. Yet there he lay, in his bed wearing the clothes he wore the day prior, unable to pick himself up and move on with his day or his life.

The salt of his tears tainted everything they touched, carving into stone that his control, his discipline, his unwavering command broken by the absence of a single man. He did not cry out. He did not wail. In the silence of his bedroom, after three days of feeling the empty space in life left by Atem's worldly absence - despite his best efforts - his body trembled with voiceless sobs. Seto Kaiba cried.

"Experts say grief is natural, Nii-sama," Mokuba said when Kaiba finally left the confines of his bedroom. He meant it as a comfort. That even his brother, his idol, couldn't divorce himself from his humanity no matter how hard his brother tried. Nothing could stop someone from mourning a loss and feeling the hole left behind when a loved one passes on.

Not that Kaiba had ever acknowledged fully the bond he felt with Atem before. He didn't really need to. Mokuba knew and had known for some time. But Kaiba himself said nothing of it. He was aware of it, sure. He never stopped fostering it, of course. He wanted to say something, absolutely. There was never a good time and now there was no time at all.

"Grief is natural, they say," Kaiba said with a scowl as he poured himself a cup of coffee. It was six in the evening. "So is death. I don't want either."

"So what are you going to do then?" Mokuba asked from where he sat at the little side table of the kitchen. "Raise him from the dead?"

Kaiba was quiet for a moment. He sipped his coffee, as black as the night sky and twice as strong, mulling over the logistics of Mokuba's unintentional suggestion. Perhaps he could not perform the necromancy Ryou Bakura occasionally and unsuccessfully attempted, but he did have the tools at his disposal for something of a modification to the idea.

"You know, Mokuba," he said as he lowered his mug. He did not meet Mokuba's eyes. "I think I just might."

Construction could start the very next day, if he hurried with his calls and transferred funds to the right accounts. He would need to draft up blueprints for both the machine and a facility. Two facilities if necessary. He didn't know the timeline or the logistics, but he could figure that all out as he went along. Testing would be necessary. So much testing. He didn't have a moment to waste.

Mokuba got down from his seat at the table, standing taller than anyone his age or height ever could. "I'm ready to work when you are!"

\---

The news of an unidentified craft landing in the empty desert reached the palace doors only hours before the pilot himself walked through the stone archway, demanding to hold council with the seated Pharaoh. Despite the insolence of the strangely-dressed pilot, the Pharaoh Atem granted the request and rose to meet the man. Deep in the chambers of his heart, the Pharaoh knew only one man could ever do something so bold, so rash, and with so much haughty confidence. Confidence that radiated an ego inflated beyond belief.

They embraced like long lost lovers, the pilot and the Pharaoh, holding each other as if the chance may never arise again.

"I knew you would do something like this, Kaiba," Atem whispered to him, standing on the tips of his toes and still barely reaching his ear. "I admit I did not expect you so soon."

"Never underestimate me, _Pharaoh_ ," Kaiba whispered back, his breath a ghost's caress across Atem's skin. He received a kiss as a reply and he took it like a glutton, desperate for more and starving for everything Atem would give him. He returned all he received tenfold.

Kisses like fire and sweet wine and summer evenings and starlit mornings. Each press of lips, brush of tongues, grasp of their hands on the others clothing cemented the feelings thy both shared. This was right, this was worth the risk, worth the wait, worth the loss and the longing and the heartache.

They parted only slightly, close enough together for Atem to mutter against Kaiba's kiss-reddened lips, "you cannot stay here, not yet. Not for a long while."

"Come back with me," Kaiba said in response before he kissed Atem again. He put every feeling, every thought, every hope he never voiced into that kiss, and under its electricity Atem moaned. "Atem," Kaiba whispered against his lips. The tips of their noses brushed together. "Atem, return to Earth with me. Return to Domino."

"Yes," Atem said with a nod before kissing Kaiba again. He couldn't keep his hands off him, desperate for the touches they both neglected to give before. "Take me home."

\---

The pod Kaiba used to breech the space separating the Field of Reeds from the living and modern-day Domino City, Japan, was far smaller than anticipated. It lacked the dragon iconography Atem came to associate with Kaiba. It lacked the flashy design that commanded the attention of everyone within a hundred-foot radius. It even lacked the KaibaCorp brand logo that Kaiba plastered on everything he couldn't make dragon-themed. It was just a space pod, similar to those in movies, hardly within Kaiba's realm of predictability for design at all.

He rushed it. The thought made Atem's heart swell as he realized it. Kaiba rushed development, did not spare time to even fix the aesthetic design of the pod, spent not a moment longer than necessary to make his way to Atem.

Atem sat in Kaiba's leather-clad lap, within the small cockpit of the pod. He had his arms around Kaiba's shoulders, his legs on either side of Kaiba's waist, and Kaiba's full attention as he kissed him slow and passionate. Each movement made his head spin. They had all the time in the world to return to Domino, now that they were in each other's arms. Now that there no longer stood a lifetime and separate dimension between Kaiba and him.

Of all the wonders of life and afterlife Atem had seen, the soft feeling of Kaiba's lips against his would never be a feeling he tired of. Soft skin against his own, the gentle scrape of a bitten split where Kaiba worried his lip too much while working, the faint taste of Kaiba's chapstick that made his lips so soft in the first place. Atem could lose himself in Kaiba's lips and he would do so gladly. He embraced everything the future held for him, knowing Kaiba would never let him go.


End file.
